“The Labour Leadership’s treatment of Diane Abbott is nothing short of disgraceful.”
Momentum
By our correspondent
Following Diane Abbott’s statement on September 19 in which she said “the internal Labour Party disciplinary against me is fraudulent,” numerous voices have spoken out on how she has been treated.
In a strong statement Momentum said, “The Labour Leadership’s treatment of Diane Abbott is nothing short of disgraceful, and is an insult both to Diane and to Labour Party members in Hackney, who voted overwhelmingly to reselect Diane.
Diane was the first ever Black woman elected to Parliament and has been an anti-racist stalwart, campaigning on issues from Stephen Lawrence to Windrush. She has faced mountains of racist abuse, including from senior Labour officials. Yet five months on, the whip remains suspended from Diane in what seems to be a trial without process. This is exactly the kind of factional abuse of process warned against in the Forde Report Keir Starmer himself commissioned.
In a new low, it seems that in their factional vendetta to force a black socialist woman out of Parliament, the Labour Leadership have exploited horrific crimes to shut out local Labour members and undermine due process. If there is any semblance of democracy and due process in Starmer’s Labour, a fair and proper process should rapidly be concluded and the whip restored.”
The Peace & Justice Project – founded by Jeremy Corbyn – meanwhile said that “The treatment of Diane Abbott by the Starmer leadership has been appalling, from their refusal to engage with the Forde Report to this latest attack on fair process within the Labour Party.”
Additionally, the Labour Assembly Against Austerity – which Diane Abbott has campaigned alongside for many years – have called for the whip to be restored to Diane Abbott, and for members to be able to decide their own Labour candidates in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and indeed across the country.
- Read Diane’s statement in full here.
- Sign the ‘Let Members Decide – For Labour Party Democracy’ statement here.
Who will vote for a party which gets rid of its best members?